Name: Royce Martin
Start: 2024-12-26T19:30:00-06:00
Location: Blue Strawberry STL

Royce Martin is a real treat to hear. In this concert, he brings his exceptional skills and focus to the music of the holidays, of Winter Solstice and of Christmastide, with classics and favorites in the mediums of jazz, ragtime and classical impressionism.
Royce Martin is a modern master of ragtime, original and reinterpreted. He recently released his first album, Memories on Morgan Street, Scott Joplin Reimagined. His new project, Impressions of Awe, is his own, original music inspired by Ravel, Debussy and Joplin, all composing the roughly the same period, which in France came to be known as Impressionist, in music as well as painting. Joplin was an influencer - on Debussy and other classical composers of the time.
A pianist, composer and native St. Louisan, Royce taught himself to play at age 14 on a toy piano, and a few years later entered Boston's Berklee College of Music. Out of school, Royce worked as a pianist and lecturer at the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, speaking to the long and storied history of ragtime, much of it created in St. Louis and outstate Missouri, and its influence on American popular music and classical composers of the period. Having received stellar reviews and attracting much attention, Royce attributes his success with awards and nominations to the heroes who continue to inspire him. Royce is ever in pursuit of the sonic sweet spot - where his art meets the kaleidoscope of his vision.